help me choose

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First off, if you have a 5" piston, you really only have about 29.5 tons at the 3,000 PSI maximum pressure that most hydraulic components are designed to run at. Splitter makers seem to exagerate a LOT, but physics don't lie - pressure per inch times area = total pressure... A = pi R^2 = 3.14 x 2.5 x 2.5 = 19.63 sq. inches X 3,000 = 58905lbs / 2,000 = 29.45 tons.

However the key question about the engine size is determined by the pump rating, NOTHING ELSE! Splitters normally use a two stage pump, with a high volume / low pressure mode that is about 4 times the low volume / high pressure mode. It takes 1HP per 2 gpm in high volume mode, or 2HP per gpm in low volume mode... The most common pump used on a 30 ton splitter is a 16gpm high / 4gpm low model - this requires an 8hp motor as a minimum, w/ 9hp as a good margin... If you have a 22gpm pump, you would need an 11hp motor minimum... Again, some splitter makers will put an oversized motor on their units in order to make them look more powerful than they really are - all an oversized motor does is burn more gas and make more noise... (Yes you can run it slower, but that will hurt your cycle time - the pump output depends on engine RPM, if you run the engine slower, it will pump less volume...)

IOW, if you have a 16gpm pump, then a 9hp is the right engine (as long as it really is a 9hp - engine makers seem to exagerate as well, not to mention wear, etc. reducing power from new)

If the pictures are of the unit, it looks very similar in design to my HF splitter, which I have found to be a good unit. I don't like that side mounted control valve, but if you look back a ways you can find a thread where I went through the process of changing the valve to be a left / front mount, which suits me perfectly.

It also appears that you may be missing the front prop leg that holds the front end of the splitter up - however I wouldn't consider that a deal breaker as there are plenty of ways to work around that.

Gooserider
 
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